Forwarded From:
Larry Cruse <[log in to unmask]>
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Subject: Secrecy News -- 04/05/02 (fwd)
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 07:25:11 -0800 (PST)
SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2002, Issue No. 28
April 5, 2002

...

ACCESS TO HISTORICAL MAPS DENIED AT ARCHIVES

A researcher working on a mine-clearing project in Africa recently went
to the National Archives to review an old map of the region where he is
working.  He was told that the map, produced by the now-defunct Army Map
Service in the 1960s, could no longer be made publicly available, upon
the instructions of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA).

The researcher, who preferred not to be named, told Secrecy News that he
was distressed by the new barriers to access and said they will set back
the progress of his demining project.

Until recently, he said, there had been no difficulty in obtaining the
maps he needed.  "Before, it was just a question of asking for them, and
it was easy, and it was great," he said.

One can still ask, but it is no longer easy or great.

Strictly speaking, said Paul Polk of NIMA public affairs, there has been
"no change in policy" regarding access to the historical maps, only more
careful implementation of the existing guidelines by both the National
Archives and the Library of Congress.

It has long been government policy, Mr. Polk explained, that small scale
maps (1:500,000 or smaller) are generally made available to the public,
medium scale maps (around 1:250,000) sometimes are made available, and
large scale maps (defined as greater than 1:250,000) generally are not
made available to the public.

"Large scale maps are usually restricted from public use because they
give the U.S. military an operational advantage if they are not made
widely available," Mr. Polk said.

In the past, NIMA recently discovered, the National Archives was
improperly granting public access to such unreleased maps, he said.
That is no longer the case.

"You can always request access to particular maps, and we'll consider
such requests," he said, noting that a number of large-scale maps are in
fact available at the Archives.

However, the Africa researcher observed that the Defense Mapping Agency
map index that ws formerly available in the Archives Reading Room is no
longer there, making it harder to formulate specific requests.

The new access limitations on historical maps only coincidentally
followed September 11, Mr. Polk said, and are not a consequence of
heightened security.  The only ongoing change in NIMA access policy that
is attributable to September 11 is the withholding of Military
Installation Maps that portray the restricted areas at certain U.S.
military facilities.

...


******************************
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
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